Maple Syrup and Birthday Cupcakes
This past weekend a good friend from high school was visiting Boston. K had a conference here last week and stayed to hang out this weekend. On top of hanging out with friends, Butler made it to the Final Four! K went to Butler and is the president of his local alumni club!
On Saturday we decided to partake in some local fun by heading up to New Hampshire to go to a maple house where they boil maple syrup. We had beautiful weather on Saturday. It was a bit chilly but sunny and not a cloud in the sky. After arriving at the Grant Family Maple House, we had some food and got in line to learn all about how maple syrup is made.
What we learned is that the sap from the trees has about 2-3% sugar in it straight from the tree. At that percentage, it would take 40 gallons of sap to make 1 gallon of maple syrup!! So they first condense the sap until it reaches about 8% sugar. The sap is then boiled to evaporate off the water.
Once the temperature reads 7 degrees above the boiling point of water, you have syrup! The guy in the maple house even explained how they use a baraometer on the wall to get the barometric pressure so they know the exact boiling temperature of water for that given day. It was all very scientific and extremely interesting.
The small bottles of maple syrup were a sample from each batch they had made at the maple house this season. The guy explained that as the season goes on, the syrup tends to get darker due to the change in the amount of sugar in the sap.
Of course, we had to get some maple products while we were there. Obviously, maple syrup. We also got some maple candies, some maple sugar, and some maple pepper. Can’t wait to find creative ways to use the sugar and pepper. If anyone has suggestions, please let me know!
Also, since K’s birthday was last week, I made him some cupcakes to celebrate. I went with my go-to chocolate cupcake recipe. I love that you can whip these up by dirtying only one bowl and using a whisk! I dipped them in some ganache and topped with festive sprinkles. Aren’t they pretty?
I am Jen the Beantown Baker. Engineer by day and baking maven by night. Hubby serves as my #1 fan and official taste tester. We got hitched back in 2006. Barefoot. In the sand. With the waves crashing behind us. It was one of the best decisions we’ve ever made. 
Oh my god… these look amazing! They combine two of my favorite things: cookie dough, and mint-chocolate!
I’ve been trying to find something unique to make for my coworkers (I bake something every weekend for them on Monday) and was sick of making cookies. I’ve been trying to find a yummy mint-chocolate non-cookie to make, and I think this will do the trick!
Jecka – These don’t actually have mint in them. But you could definitely add mint to the brownie layer and use mint chips in the cookie dough. It would be quite tasty!
Those look AMAZING!!! All of my favorite things, rolled into one. So creative 🙂
I did the same thing Jecka did – I totally read “mini” as “mint”! That’s what you call a yummy mistake! 🙂
These sound awesome! I was thinking of making cookie dough cupcakes for Bake for Hope, but I might make these instead.
mmmm… My boyfriend would go crazy over those! He and I love cookie dough. I just got a new KitchenAid mixer that I’m looking for recipes to make in. I think your’s will be the first. Thanks for all the great ideas
Wow, these sound amazing and are right up my alley with that edible cookie dough – yum!!
What a great idea!! Wow. I would drizzle some hot chocolate sauce on top to make it even more intense haha. Overkill!
Wow, now those look killer, I love cookie dough and am a sucker for any recipe with those words.
Oh my gosh these look amazing. LOVE cookie dough, must definitely save this recipe for an empty rainy day 🙂
I love mini cupcakes. These are super cute!
Don’t those look yummy! I think if I open my mouth wide enough I can get it all in one bite, haha. I’ll have to give these a try soon.